What happens to my body when I exercise?

Sat down this week, reading through one of my “Nerd” magazines, BBC Focus, I came across an article that made it easy to understand what happens to our bodies when we exercise. I personally found it very interesting, and thought you’d enjoy the knowledge too!

Hormones tell the body to convert fat into glucose, reduce the pain you feel and improve your mood.

Muscles generate lactic acid as a by-product of intensive exercise and as this builds up, the pH of the blood around the muscles drops

This drop in pH eventually prevents the muscles contracting further. At this point you need to rest to allow the lactic acid to be metabolised.

So, what happens to my body?

Brain – The brain makes neurotransmitters, like serotonin (making you happy!), dopamine and GABA. This is part of the reason your brain consumes more energy during exercise.

Heart – Adrenaline levels rise, which stimulates the heart to beat faster. Capillaries in the muscles open wider, increasing blood flow there up to 20 times.

Lungs – The muscles of the ribcage assist the diaphragm to pull in up to 15 times more oxygen than at rest. Breathing gets faster, but also deeper

Skin – Your two million sweat glands can produce 1.4 litres of sweat per hour! Waste heat is carried away by the latent heat of evaporation as it dries.

Muscles – As you exercise, the large muscles in your arms and legs squeeze your veins running through them, pumping blood back to your heart.

Bones – High-impact and weightlifting exercises stimulate bone formation and reduce the rate of calcium loss as we get older.

So there you have it, lots of science based facts around why I am so tired, sweaty and aching after a 1VIGOR session… doesn’t make it any easier! Hope you enjoyed the read as much as I did. Now go book a session!